Why do some individuals not believe in Jesus?

[Gary]

... I have a young moslem friend who is well aware of Jesus Christ. He respects the name of Jesus. My friend was, however, raised a moslem and sees no reason to discard his beliefs for that of Christianity. He notes the arrogance and the hypocricy of some people in both religions. But ...he puts that down 'to people' more so than the God they purport to believe in.

Do I 'do a Solo' and arrogantly tell my moslem friend that he has an automatic one-way ticket to hell? Am I shirking my duty as a Christian not to do so? Hmmm . . .

You should tell him about the real Jesus... not the incorrect picture painted of Jesus by Muhammad in the Quran. Muhammad lived 650 years after Jesus had walked this earth. Muhammad knew very little about Christianity and less about Jesus.

If you would like to witness to your Muslim friend, the first requirement would be that you are a born-again Christian who knows the Bible well. You should be able to relay the correct Jesus to him; the Jesus of the Bible and the Jesus you personally know.

Muslims say they honor Jesus. How can they? The Quran has Muhammad ABOVE sinless Jesus! It does not make sense. We know that Muhammad was a liar, a thief, a murderer, an adulterer and he slept with a girl who was 9 years old!

By the way, you ARE shirking you duty if you do not correctly witness to your Muslim friend. Why would you allow your Muslim friend to go to hell by following a man like Muhammad?

If you do not know how to share the true Gospel with your friend, go here http://www.answering-islam.org/Gilchris ... index.html and read and learn. John Gilchrist has been witnessing to Muslims for over 30 years:

http://www.answering-islam.org/Gilchris ... index.html

Sharing the Gospel with Muslims
A Handbook for Bible-based Muslim Evangelism
by John Gilchrist

Over almost twenty years, in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, I was privileged to be part of a special group of young Christians seeking to share the Gospel with Muslims in our province in South Africa, the Transvaal. The province no longer exists for the provincial maps of South Africa have dramatically changed in the past ten years, but the Transvaal was the northernmost province sandwiched between Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. About 50 000 Muslims lived within its borders and we visited them from home to home in every city and town, covering virtually every Muslim home in the province excepting Lenasia near Johannesburg, where the largest Muslim community lives, which we only partially evangelised.

There were results, but they are not the theme of this book. Using the Word of God effectively in reaching Muslims for Christ is the theme, and the contents of this book record various ways we learnt over the years of witnessing to Muslims from the pages of the Bible, God’s holy Word, and the supreme source which the Spirit uses to direct all mankind to the Gospel. Its value for this purpose is summed up in this verse:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

and then this...

Just as we had to confront our own sinfulness and repent of it to become true disciples of Jesus, so Muslims too must come to him in true repentance. It is not simply a shift of allegiance from Muhammad to Jesus. It is also a turning from darkness to light, from self-centredness to Christ-centredness, from spiritual death to eternal life. Ever since the fall of Adam the call of God has been to renewal, and a genuine Biblical witness will expose the Muslim heart as well as his mind and redirect him to a living hope in God’s perfect Saviour, his Son Jesus Christ.

Are you prepared to do what Jesus COMMANDED you to do? Share the Gospel?

:-? :-? :-?

http://www.answering-islam.org/Gilchris ... index.html

 

[ArtGuy]

Are you saying then that anyone who has the knowledge of Jesus Christ has placed on the them the responsibility for accepting or rejecting Him? And consequently if they accept him they are born again and if they are not, then they are not born again?

Something like that. By "knowledge of Christ" I don't simply mean that someone has heard the name and knows the story. I mean that someone recognizes the truth of the Bible, rather than thinking it's just a fairy tale.

 

[mutzrein]

Are you saying then that anyone who has the knowledge of Jesus Christ has placed on the them the responsibility for accepting or rejecting Him? And consequently if they accept him they are born again and if they are not, then they are not born again?

Something like that. By "knowledge of Christ" I don't simply mean that someone has heard the name and knows the story. I mean that someone recognizes the truth of the Bible, rather than thinking it's just a fairy tale.

So, what do you think this means then, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."

 

[ArtGuy]

So, what do you think this means then, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."

I interpret that to mean that those who accept Jesus will, upon death, be reborn into heaven as children of God, leaving behind their crass earthly countenances in favor of perfect embodiments of what man is meant to be.

 

[mutzrein]

So, what do you think this means then, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."

I interpret that to mean that those who accept Jesus will, upon death, be reborn into heaven as children of God, leaving behind their crass earthly countenances in favor of perfect embodiments of what man is meant to be.

OK, so you are saying that you believe scripture to mean that being 'born again' is not something that can occur while we are in these mortal bodies but will take place when man is resurrected - into a spiritual body at the end of this age.

 

[Soma-Sight]

You should tell him about the real Jesus... not the incorrect picture painted of Jesus by Muhammad in the Quran. Muhammad lived 650 years after Jesus had walked this earth. Muhammad knew very little about Christianity and less about Jesus.

All we know is what we read according to most.

Unfortunately Muslims have been taught that the Koran is the Word of God and we are the infidels.....

And we wonder why they dont convert? When all their family members and most trusted friends worship Allah.

They are then expected to believe a stranger that comes from a materialistic culture that promotes strip clubs on billboards and has liberal values.

 

[ArtGuy]

OK, so you are saying that you believe scripture to mean that being 'born again' is not something that can occur while we are in these mortal bodies but will take place when man is resurrected - into a spiritual body at the end of this age.

Yes.

 

[SputnikBoy]

You should tell him about the real Jesus... not the incorrect picture painted of Jesus by Muhammad in the Quran. Muhammad lived 650 years after Jesus had walked this earth. Muhammad knew very little about Christianity and less about Jesus.

All we know is what we read according to most.

Unfortunately Muslims have been taught that the Koran is the Word of God and we are the infidels.....

And we wonder why they dont convert? When all their family members and most trusted friends worship Allah.

They are then expected to believe a stranger that comes from a materialistic culture that promotes strip clubs on billboards and has liberal values.

That's right. Muslims have been raised from birth into a religious culture. That culture promotes strict adherence to morality and other values. Christianity, on the other hand, is so often 'wishy-washy' or/and hypocritical. Many Christians SAY one thing and DO another. Lip service vs actions. Muslims may be wrong but most are not stupid.

 

[Jay T]

There are also those who simply don't believe everything they read...

You mean like most in the Christian world....who don't believe many verses in the Bible ?

 

[ArtGuy]

There are also those who simply don't believe everything they read...

You mean like most in the Christian world....who don't believe many verses in the Bible ?

Does holding a different interpretation of a passage that has been translated and transcribed repeatedly over two millenia than someone else constitute "not believing"? If so, great. I can now claim that everyone who disagrees with me simply doesn't believe in the Bible. Saves the trouble of having actual debates on it.

 

[Steve]

Here's my 2 cents worth:

I work with a LOT of younger folks(18>). Now these are inner city guys, who would normally be thought of as having been brought up in Church. The parents and/or grandparents were/are more than likely, Christian.

Due to the trend of today's American society and its liberalism and syncretism, these guys think of 'all religion' as being the same; i.e., all roads lead to God. And get QUITE insulted when I tell them otherwise.

99.5% of my boyz have records. Ergo, in the 'joint', they have been exposed to a lot of this Muslim garbage---so, even if they are not Muslim(thank God), they have heard that 'Jesus is just a prophet.' And jail/prison is a very fertile breeding ground for cults, so they get the 'Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ' crapola, the Five Percenters, the Nation of Islam (shudder!). A lot of these rappers they get on MTV are spewing out this stuff, and these young adults and children soak it up like a sponge.

Just a few thoughts. But, this pervasive society is doing a lot of spiritual damage. A LOT. And when I present traditional Christian thought, I get an argument(just had one today) in groups.

They WILL pray, however, and I send them off each week with a lengthy prayer, back into the streets. There was a Muslim in group today, so I did not have the prayer, because I will not pray with them in group, cuz, God forbid, they might want to get something in for Alvin, and I'm not having that. We don't pray to demons in my groups.

 

[reznwerks]

not true

People dont reject Jesus because of a lack of knowledge on theology....

People reject Jesus because of a sin problem....

Atheists have no sin so that is not correct. Atheists don't reject Jesus for what he supposedly represents. Atheists simply reject the claim that he can intercede , performed any miracles, or even that he existed. That assumption is concluded by the simple lack of evidence outside the bible of which no contemporary evidence of Jesus exists period. Even as a fictional character Jesus can be admired for his personal qualities.

 

[SputnikBoy]

Re: not true

People dont reject Jesus because of a lack of knowledge on theology....

People reject Jesus because of a sin problem....

Atheists have no sin so that is not correct. Atheists don't reject Jesus for what he supposedly represents. Atheists simply reject the claim that he can intercede , performed any miracles, or even that he existed. That assumption is concluded by the simple lack of evidence outside the bible of which no contemporary evidence of Jesus exists period. Even as a fictional character Jesus can be admired for his personal qualities.

But, the existence of Jesus IS verified from sources outside the Bible.

 

[mutzrein]

Re: not true

People dont reject Jesus because of a lack of knowledge on theology....

People reject Jesus because of a sin problem....

Atheists have no sin so that is not correct. Atheists don't reject Jesus for what he supposedly represents. Atheists simply reject the claim that he can intercede , performed any miracles, or even that he existed. That assumption is concluded by the simple lack of evidence outside the bible of which no contemporary evidence of Jesus exists period. Even as a fictional character Jesus can be admired for his personal qualities.

Interesting reznwerks. A couple of questions to aid my understanding of an athiest's position.
What does Jesus represent to an athiest?
And if there were evidence of Jesus outside of the bible what difference would it make to an athiest?

Thanks